The Apostolic Fathers have been widely interpreted as espousing a soteriology that deviates from the New Testament's message of salvation and reconciliation through the grace of God. While this understanding has been widespread, there have been other readers of the Apostolic Fathers who saw them in a different, and less negative, light. The present work has attempted to address the difference in these two interpretations. Chapters one through three address preliminary considerations: the identy and background of the Apostolic Fathers, the history of their interpretation, and some hermeneutical issues for patristic study. Chapters four through six examine Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, the <i>Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas</i>, and <i>The Shepherd of Hermas</i>, in turn. In each case the chapter begins with an examination of the background and purpose for writing, then their understanding of salvation - its basis, its appropriation, and the role of works in the Christian life - is considered. In every case, except <i>The Shepherd of Hermas</i>, we find that the death of Christ is the basis of salvation, appropriation is by faith, and in varying degrees repentance, and works are performed as a response to salvation. <i>The Shepherd of Hermas</i> we find defective, with no understanding of the atonement and works having saving significance. Chapter ten proposed a New Testament soteriology, based on the same categories, as a foil against which the Apostolic Fathers may be compared and assessed. Our conclusion is that while the Apostolic Fathers are moralistic, it is a reflection of the fact that they were written to address practical problems not as theological reflection. Their faith was grounded in Jesus Christ and they lived, and worked, in response to him.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 1987. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [161]-165).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Chicago, 1911. / Bibliography: p. xii.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1911. / Includes bibliographical references (p. xii).

Thesis (S.T.D.)--Catholic University of America, 1924. / Biography. Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-116).

The present thesis focuses on the way the seven selected writings of the Apostolic Fathers quote the texts of the Bible. Beginning with discussion of the term "Apostolic Fathers", the thesis turns to explaining the key expressions used in the next chapters, namely Quotation, Composite Quotation, Allusion, Paraphrase, Scriptural Language, Exemplum. The second part, the principal part of the thesis, contains close analysis of the quotations within the selected writings. Attention is also paid to the question, which books of the Bible were quoted by the individual authors, whereas the investigation concentrates primarily on how the quotations are used. For the purpose of unbiased comparison of the single writings' citation technique, the total number of quotations, the length of all quotations in total and the length of each writing was enumerated, the length of the writing being expressed in the count of standard pages. In this way, two significant quantities were achieved, namely proportional bulk of quotations in the writing and quotation frequency expressed in the number of quotations per standard page. Besides these figures, attention was paid also to the role of quotations in individual writings with regard to their genres. In the 1 Clement, the highest proportional bulk of quotations is found,...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1907. / Also paged: 477-517. Vita. "Reprinted from Historical and linguistic studies, second series, vol. II, part 5." Includes bibliographical references (p. 9) Also available on the Internet.

While the cumulative history of the early church paints a trajectory towards a strict form of vertical, hierarchical leadership, at least five patterns of shared leadership emerge throughout the Apostolic Fathers that make the case for the presence of a form, proto or otherwise, of shared leadership in the early church. In light of the literature base, the study presents shared leadership in terms of nine seminal aspects. With these seminal aspects as a foundation, the study employs a directed content analysis and a structured matrix to analyze Michael W. Holmes' Apostolic Fathers, 3rd ed. for five patterns of shared leadership. By exposing five patterns of shared leadership that emerge in the corpus of the Apostolic Fathers the study extends the field of shared leadership through the in-depth analysis of an organization's historical practices and expands the modern church's understanding of the roots of its leadership practices and structures.

In my work I deal with the personality of Clement of Rome and with the importance of his work. Firstly, I express my opinion about the date of Clement's activity, so I am able to put Clement into the historical context of early Christianity. Then, on the basis of both survey of the previous research and my own analysis I am trying to solve the question, who Clement was - with main interest in the question of his origin. The work also aims on classifying Clement's place in the development of Christian tradition. Thus I deal with the question of Clement's relationship to apostole Paul and his teaching and the problem of Clement's work and activity as the most important member of third generation of Christians. In the end, I am using the results to create a draft of the situation of Christianity in Clement's era and to propose questions suitable for future research.

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